


Out of the Time Fog

by Forlorn Kumquat (sara_wolfe)



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 09:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9813857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/pseuds/Forlorn%20Kumquat
Summary: When Tony gets hurt investigating the time fog, Rhodey's there to make him feel better.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For **InsaneJuliann** , because she was having a rough day and wanted some Tony cuddles.

His shattered helmet mocked him where it sat on a shelf at the back of the Inventory.

“I just want to know what’s going to happen,” he’d begged Professor Pym, during his last science lesson. “I _need_ to know.”

Pym had just smiled at him and rambled something nonsensical about how mysterious the time fog was. And Fury, when Tony had approached him later with the same request, had growled something about ‘need-to-know’ and then threw Tony out of his office.

_‘If they won’t tell me,’_ Tony thought, determinedly, _‘then I’ll just have to go after answers on my own.’_

Tony snatched his helmet off the shelf, tucking it under his arm as he left the Inventory and made a beeline for the nearest edge of the time fog. The bluish-purple cloud that surrounded the campus moved in slow-rolling waves, tendrils of vapor reaching out from the fog as if seeking something.

A year of deeply-ingrained caution had his steps faltering as he got closer and closer to the fog, but he forced himself to keep moving. The only way to find out what happened to his helmet - to his future self - lay inside that fog. And Tony wanted answers.

When he reached the edge of the time fog, he plunged straight in. As the fog surrounded him, cold dampness seeping into his clothing, there was a moment where he could see everything. See the outline of something green and enormous off to the side, a rising tower of ice beyond it. And as he turned in a slow circle, something flickering behind him, red and gold like his armor.

Tony crept closer, footsteps muffled by the heavy fog under his feet. The formless red and gold became more solid as he approached it, until he could reach out with his prosthetic hand, brushing aside tendrils of fog until he touched a cold metal chest plate surrounding a dark arc reactor. Carefully, he spread his palm over the surface of the reactor.

For a moment nothing happened. And then a spark traveled out of the long-dead armor and into his hand, zipping through his body and settling in his arc reactor. Pain exploded in his chest and he screamed…

* * *

Tony’s eyes flew open as he gasped for air, choking on a scream. He flailed at the heavy blankets covering him, pinning his arms down, until pair of warm hands gripped him gently by the shoulders, pulling him up and away from the suffocating embrace of the blankets.

“Easy, Tones,” Rhodey soothed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “You’re okay; I’ve got you.”

Tony let out a shaky breath, slumping against Rhodey’s side and letting his head fall onto the other boy’s shoulder. “You came after me.”

“Of course I did,” Rhodey said, hugging him just a little bit tighter. “You really think I’m not going to come when you need my help?”

“How’d you even find me?” Tony asked.

“JARVIS tracked you into the time fog,” Rhodey told him. “He alerted me when you got closer to the time fog, and then amped up the alert when he sensed you come into contact with another version of his own technology.”

“The suit,” Tony remembered. “Rhodey, one of my suits was trapped in the time fog. The arc reactor was dead. I think-” he swallowed hard, voice shaking slightly. “I think I was dead,” he admitted.

“Not gonna happen,” Rhodey promised him, firmly. “I don’t care what you found in the time fog, it’s not gonna be you. I just pulled you out of the time fog, I’m not about to lose you.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Tony told him, words ruined by a huge yawn that made his jaw crack. “Sorry.”

“You were pretty hurt,” Rhodey replied. “You’re going to be pretty tired for a while. You should get some more sleep.”

So saying, he pushed gently on Tony’s shoulder until Tony was lying flat on the bed again. Tony resisted long enough to get a good grip on Rhodey’s shirt, pulling him down onto the bed with him.

“Stay with me?” he asked, struggling to stay awake even as he could feel his eyes falling shut. “Don’t want you to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rhodey promised, as he stretched out on the bed beside Tony and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Go to sleep, Tones. I’ll be right here.”


End file.
